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Subject: 
Re: Just Teasing, I Have No Intention of Debating Any of This...
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Mon, 24 Mar 2003 19:50:10 GMT
Viewed: 
868 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Christopher L. Weeks writes:
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, John Neal writes:


Do you suppose we ride the only white horse?

Is it out of the question that maybe we do?

Yes.  I can't think of a plausible reason to think that we are more concerned
with doing good than _everyone_ else.  I think that all people are motivated
by their own interests which means that any country or society will have
"good" and "bad" people.

Pretty cynical.  And un-American, I might add.

To RM and the Left, it is a categorical "yes". It is assumed that
of course Bush is up to something-- *all* politicians are .  Why
is that necessarily so?

Past performance?

As in investing, "past performance doesn't guarantee future results";-)

My theory is that the Left hate the fact that Bush won,

I think that you don't mean me when you say "the left," but I don't hate the
Bush won...I hate how he won.  There are too many contingencies and
coincidences leading to his victory in Florida for a rational person to think
that he won it honorably.  That is just an implausible assertion.  If it came
down to being that close after recounts and the Supreme Court (stacked by >daddy
or not) decided the situation we might just figure that's how it works out and
we'll try again in four years.  But the misappropriation of voting rights as
a result of collusion between Texas and Florida is too much.  I hate the fact
that the election was rigged.  That's what they do in places like Chile and
Cuba and we have reduced our great nation by fixing the election.


Rigged??? Come on.  How did those who "rigged" the election know it would be so
close in popular vote?  The idea is nuts.  There was a lot political
maneuvering, but Gore was certainly doing his own as well.  I think Gore is at
peace with the outcome (I just read a quotation from a speech of his in the
Dominican Republic in December, where Gore asked the crowd, "In your
presidential election here, does the candidate who gets the most votes win the
election?")

I know that you'll wave your hands in dismissal of all this, as if pretending
it didn't happen will make it so, but I'm not going to forget about it.

If he can accept it, why can't you and the rest of the Left accept it?

that Bush is a Christian,

Ummm...most Democrats are Christian too.  I'm afraid I don't follow this one.
I mean, _I_ happen to consider being a Christian an intellectual fault, but
most of the "lefties" don't.  There is a large subsection of the American
communitarian movement that specifically base their communitarian beliefs on
their the teachings of Jesus Christ.  Richard, here in this forum, has
repeatedly pointed to references that suggest Jesus advocated a pretty strong
socialist stance: Jesus was a lefty.

And of course nothing could be further from the truth.  Jesus was about, among
other things, social justice-- that doesn't mean that he was a *socialist*.
How absurd.  His governmental preferance would probably be a Theocracy;-)

and that they see American values are swinging to the right.

I admit that this bothers me, but since I stradle the left and the right more
extremely than most people who are one only one side, I can enjoy the ground
gained either way.

The Left is all for tolerance as long as you
tolerate what *they* tolerate-- anything else is met with the kind of vile
intolerance I see for the *person* of George Bush.

I agree.  Liberal Americans are no more likely than Conservative Americans to
be open minded about reinterpreting the world.  Both groups believe that the
world is a certain way and that's all there is to it.

Wait a second there.  Undisputed?  You're just asserting that.  What if I
dispute it?  Or did you mean undisputed by the people who agree with you?

No please, dispute it if you wish.  When or where has appeasing
terrorists ever worked out?

What do you mean by "appeasing" and "worked?"

When has the strategy of negotiating with terrorists ie giving them what they
want ended in a successful outcome of a situation?

It
is really quite clear to me (though this is certainly disputed) that the
Palestinians are resorting to small scale terrorist aggression because it is
the only tactic that they have available.

What about peace!!!???  They have *never* tried that, because there are
extremist groups among Palestinians for which peace with Israel is not an
option-- only the destruction of the State of Israel.

What is the early history of Israel like?

Since DAY ONE they have been under attack from Arabs.

My impression of Palestinian claims
is that they will be much happier if Israel would assert sovreignty over the
land assigned to them by UN mandate and start treating Palestinian Israelis as
equals.  Do we have reason (other than the Macho Flash of these groups) to
believe that nothing less than the dissolution of the state of Israel would
satisfy and significant number of them?  I have specifically hearn mainstream
Arab politicians claim that that isn't so.

The problem is that there are many terrorist organizations that *do* want the
destruction of the state of Israel-- until *that* issued is addressed, nothing
positive can happen WRT the Palestinians and their nationalistic aspirations.

And anyway, what do you figure they would do if we made
our donations to them contingent on pursuing the peace process?

To possibly use nukes as a last resort to defend themselves?  *That* wouldn't
be good...

So we're paying extortian?

So you are saying we should be the extortionists by dangling our support?

Look, the scary part is that he sympathizes with people who are willing to go
to extremes to reach their goals.  Wounding America wounds Israel, so why
wouldn't he assist terrorists?

So if we made our relationship with Israel such that harming them did not harm
us, we would be safe from him?  Surely that would be cheaper than doing a war.

Geez Chris, they are our ALLIES.  Hurting them *is* hurting us.  Are you
suggesting that we cut our alliance with Israel in hopes of appeasing
terrorists?  That is *precisely* what they want!  So they can then attack
Israel!  What other motive would you surmise from desiring a rift between
Israel and the US?

Depends what you mean by "us".  The obliteration of Washington D.C. and all
of our leaders would instantly create 50 "countries" of some sort.

I'm not convinced that:

a) this would really happen
b) if it did happen it would last longer than a day or two
c) this would be a bad thing

Dude, you are sick!


How do you feel about President Carter?

Love the man, hate his screwed-up politics.  His faith in the UN is
particularily troubling.  He should have told the Nobel community to shove
their disingenuous award.

JOHN



Message has 2 Replies:
  Re: Just Teasing, I Have No Intention of Debating Any of This...
 
(...) It's unamerican to think that people are self interested? Or to think that nations are made up of good and bad people? Or to think that America is largely like many other countries? (...) Well, they couldn't know _how_ close it would be until (...) (21 years ago, 24-Mar-03, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
  Re: Just Teasing, I Have No Intention of Debating Any of This...
 
Weeks said: (...) Then Neal said: (...) Isn't the basis of your faith a struggle between the good and bad out to achieve their own goals? I my world view self-interest is a given. It is the moving force behind every human action since the beginning. (...) (21 years ago, 24-Mar-03, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Just Teasing, I Have No Intention of Debating Any of This...
 
(...) Yes. I can't think of a plausible reason to think that we are more concerned with doing good than _everyone_ else. I think that all people are motivated by their own interests which means that any country or society will have "good" and "bad" (...) (21 years ago, 24-Mar-03, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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